Apocalypse
by RedDawn01
Summary: Naruto had fought on the side of humanity in the Dragon Civil War, and he won, but at what cost? After shielding himself from the world for four hundred years, he will make his return and align with a guild, Fairy Tail, but is the world as peaceful as it looks? A completely different take on the 'Dragon Slayer Naruto' story. Rating may change. Pairing is undecided.
1. Chapter 1

**Apocalypse**

Summary: Naruto had fought on the side of humanity in the Dragon Civil War, and he won, but at what cost? After shielding himself from the world for four hundred years, he will make his return and align with a guild, Fairy Tail, but is the world as peaceful as it looks? A completely different take of the 'Dragon Slayer Naruto' story. Includes mostly Fairy Tail elements, though there is some involvement with Naruto's world. Canon and non-canon elements and arcs. This is my first fanfic, so any type of feedback, barring flames, is appreciated.

* * *

**Arc 1: Return**

**Chapter 1: Dragon Slayer**

* * *

_'X784'_ A cloaked young man thought, shaking his head. Spiky blond hair fell to the side of his deep blue eyes. _'Has it really been so long?'_ It was peaceful, he thought, as he wandered through the town of Hargeon. It wasn't dark yet, but it was by no means day, the sun deciding that it wanted to play a last few rainbow colors across the horizon. Then, as soon as the colors came, they vanished behind the sea, placing the city back into a placid darkness.

_'This is what I fought for,'_ he reminded himself with a smile. Memories, happy and sad, swirled up into the forefront of his mind, but they were ignored. Dragons, Dragon Slayers, Zeref, they were in the past. The world he knew was gone, and he could settle down and live a normal life. Though, after such an exiting past, he didn't know if he could stand a normal life. Fiore still had problems, and he couldn't leave people in need. That didn't really explain what he'd been doing for 400some years.

The blond smirked. _'Maybe the world should get a reintroduction.'_ Then he felt it. Power radiated from somewhere on the beach. _'Igneel?'_ He wondered.

He pulled the hood down on his darkly colored cloak and jumped onto the top of a building then used the rooftops to hurry over to the beach. Houses blurred below him, but he needed to find the source of that power. As he approached the beach, he noticed that a ship had crashed into the sand, and people with guns and swords lay cowering and floored near some teen with spiky salmon colored hair. One of them floated up with some purple type of fire magic. Two more, a blond girl and... was that an exceed, stood behind the pink haired boy, cheering him on._ 'What's going on here?'_

The pink haired teen's hands became coated in flames. "This is what Fairy Tail wizards are like!"

"Ah!" The floating guy exclaimed, panick on his face. "Red Shower!"

The pinkette dodged multiple strikes of pink and purple magic, jumping into the air. With a swing of his flaming fist, he clocked the guy on the cheek, sending him flying over the buildings. The blond shrugged, walking calmly towards the girl and cat to figure out what was going on.

The blue cat was busy with an explanation. "Dragon lungs for breathing fire, dragon scales for dissolving fire, and dragon talons covered in fire. It's an ancient magic that lets-"

"Dragon Slayer magic," the young man interrupted.

They both turned to the newcomer. The blond girl was surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Yup," he nodded, "a lifetime ago, there was a war between dragons and humans. To kill them, we adopted dragon slayer magic. Nifty, huh?"

"Really!" The girl exclaimed.

The blond nodded. "Oh, how rude, I didn't introduce myself. Naruto Uzumaki, nice ta meechya!"

"Oh, I'm Lucy Heartfelia, and this is Happy."

"Aye!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "The one beating up Bora the Prominence is Natsu."

Naruto chuckled, looking over at the two fighters, saying to himself, "Dragon Slayer of Igneel indeed."

Meanwhile, the fight was escalating, Bora destroying some of the town, and Natsu charging a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist. In moments, the pinkette had socked Bora hard enough that he flew across the town before crashing into a bell.

"H-he went overboard!" Lucy cried, looking at the destruction.

"Don't you just love it?!" Naruto cheered, feeling invigorated by the destruction.

Their conversations was interrupted the the stomping of many metal-coated feet. "The army!" The blond girl exclaimed, again, turning around in shock.

Natsu came running, grabbing Lucy on the shoulder and pulling her down the street. "Shit, let's get the hell outta here!"

"Halt!" The soldiers called at Naruto, realizing he was still standing there.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, all this has got me revved up too... I really wish I could resist arrest, but I gotta go!" He hightailed it out of there, jumping on the nearest awning and again onto the rooftops, running towards Natsu and the others. "Next time you think of the fact you've got a city to arrest people in, come thank me!" He chuckled at his own joke.

* * *

Finally! He caught up to those three idiots. Well, two idiots and a loud girl, but close enough. They were running like bats outta hell, and even though he could catch them if he wanted, he slowed it down and had a time with watching them freak out. When he found them, the pinkette stopped and looked at him funny.

"Do I know you? You smell familiar?"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Uhh, I certainly hope not. I saw you fight, Natsu Dragneel," Lucy gaped, she didn't tell Naruto Natsu's last name but he guessed it? Impossible. "I heard about that guild Fairy Tail, and I think joining sounds like a blast."

Natsu opened his mouth but was quickly cut off. "I know right! They're all over the papers causing destruction, so I know they're a bunch of awesome wizards!"

"Aye," Happy agreed with a nod. _'Is that all he says,'_ Naruto thought with a sweatdrop.

Natsu shrugged. "Fairy Tail's like a family to me..."

"Sweet! So what the hell do I do?" Naruto wondered. All three of them shrugged. _'Aww man, why's stuff nowadays so complicated! I want to beat up bad guys and make stuff explode! Urgh, damnit, why is causing chaos so much fun?'_ Bah, who was he to argue. Chaos has saved a bunch of people and killed many foes, so it's just as good as anything else out there.

"Where is the guild, since you guys are going so slow."

"Magnolia Town," Happy answered.

"It's the cool looking place with a kick ass design," Natsu put in. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"I'll see you three at Magnolia Town then!" He was gone in the blink of an eye.

"Cool!" Happy cheered, looking at the spot where Naruto was.

Natsu nodded, the guy was fast. _'I wonder if he'd fight me... But seriously, why does he smell so familiar. It's like Igneel said... But I can't remember what it was! Ragh, damnit!'_ Thinking was not his strong suit.

Lucy sighed. "Doesn't Naruto know that the train station is the other way?"

* * *

Naruto darted through the streets of Magnolia, going at a leisurely run, which probably wasn't leisurely at all to any normal person. Finally, he spotted a building that could only be Fairy Tail's guild. Part of that was because it said 'Fairy Tail' on the front and had the same symbol that was on Natsu's arm. Naruto thought the guild name was kinda dumb since 400 years ago, even 300 years ago, everyone knew that fairies didn't have tails. He shrugged and opened the door.

The first word to describe the guild hall? Loud. Lively would work too. There was a brunette chugging an entire barrel of alcohol; he could it was alcoholic tell by the smell, even across the room. There was one good-looking guy with glasses talking with two cute girls in the corner, making them giggle and blush every few seconds. A half naked guy was arguing with a tall, muscular white haired man over something involving manliness. That didn't begin to cover some of the rediculousness going on at the moment, and all this madness made him let out a grin._ 'I'm definitely signing up!'_

"Can I help you?" The voice almost startled him, making him turn around to see a white haired girl at the bar. Damn, she was cute.

"Uh, ya, where the hell do I apply! This place is awesome!" The girl chuckled.

"Well, normally we have to wait for the Master to decide, he's busy right now, but I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if we let you join. By the way, I'm Mirajane, but everyone calls me Mira." She was so kind, Naruto thought. Kind and pretty...

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. You got any papers or something?"

"Generally, no we don't. We're supposed to ask what kind of magic you use first though."

The blond rubbed the back of his neck. "It's, uh, complicated. I use Apocalypse magic, but I swear it's not as bad as it sounds! It's kinda like a, I dunno, a lost magic, but not really. More that the other user has a habit of hiding or blowing up stuff and then hiding..."

Mira smiled sweetly again. "Oh, here's the Master right now, he's probably slacking on his paperwork again."

Naruto looked around. All he could see was a short, old man. "I don't see him..."

"Oi, kids these days..." The old man hopped on a bar stool and grabbed a drink, chugging the entire thing in one go.

Mira leaned over. "He's Master Makarov," she whispered.

Oh... "Oh. Hey, I'm not a kid!" He was around before the guild master was even born!

"Bah, you're all my kids," the Master argued. _'Is this guild's master really a short, grumpy man who should have retired?'_ He was liking this guild more and more, and he had absolutely no idea if it was because of the guild's rediculousness or his own insanity.

"Kid, Mira said you use Apocalypse magic?" Makarov asked with sudden lucidity.

"Uh, ya. Why?"

"Never heard of it," he replied with an unconcerned smile. "Get a stamp or whatever and we can do paperwork later. God knows I have enough to do already. You got a place to stay?" Naruto shook his head. "Well go do a job or something first and we'll figure it out. I gotta keep my mind off of the fact that my kids can't stop destroying things." The master was interesting to say the least. At least he appeared old enough that calling all of the people in Fairy Tail 'kids' wasn't odd.

Mira had returned, he didn't even realized she'd left, holding a stamp in the shape of the guild mark. "Where do you want it and in what color?"

"Orange," he answered immediately, pulling off his baggy black cloak. Underneath was another cloak, the same one he used to have as a sage, but instead it worked as more of a loose jacket, covering his arms and some of his chest. It was black and red, two of his top three colors, and read Apocalypse on the back, but it was in English, not kanji. His pants and shirt under that were just an orange tee shirt and black pants. He pulled down a jacket sleeve and pointed at his right forearm. "Here."

Mira wondered how he managed to fit a cloak over another cloak then nodded and pressed the thing to his skin. A little magic later and an almost permanent orange mark of the guild was on his forearm. '_Cool,'_ he thought. _'Magic really has come a long way in everyday use since the war.'_

"So what's there to do?"

"You can take a job and make money or you can chill for a bit and meet everybody," Mira answered, "I think Natsu's going to be back soon, you'd like him."

"Oh, the fire Dragon Slayer?" He was kind of weak for a dragon slayer, but in this peaceful age that was to be expected. Well, and he only saw a couple seconds of a one-sided fight, so he didn't really know Natsu's 'true' skill and ability. "I met him at Hargeon. He blew up a boat and scared a slaver out of his wits. Nice kid."

"That sounds like Natsu. If you want to take a job, they are on the board over there." She leaned forward a little, drawing Naruto's attention to her breasts, which were near his face, and pointed at a board with papers all over. "You're supposed to show Master or me before you go."

He stared blankly for a moment, then shok his head, realizing he should say something and stop staring. "Awesome!" Naruto rushed over, probably too quickly, and scanned the board. _'Pirates... Had enough of that for one day. Find lost dog, sounds tedious. Finding pets was never my thing, at least it's not a cat. Clear a cave of wyverns, says there's only one. Oooh, that one's A class with a 300,000 Jewel reward. That's a lot, right? Meh, I want to beat someone up first, so maybe save that one for later. Oh, I've got it! Find and bring in for questioning on actions of dark guilds, also A class. Name is Conway, suspected for involvement in multiple dark guilds including blah... Reward for capture is 150,000J, sweet! And I get to bash someone's face in!'_

"I wonder why a task with wyverns is available to everyone?" He mused as he handed the flyer to Mirajane. The master had moved a few stools down and looked half asleep.

"This is B rank, almost A rank. You sure? Usually we have a team of A and B class mages or an S class mage go on these kinds of jobs." Usually, Mystogan did them, and everyone credited to the fact he was mysterious and ninjalike, so capturing people was easy for him.

"Bah, ranks are only to make people feel good about themselves," Naruto waved off. Makarov cheered and held his drink up before chugging the rest.

"I don't see why not. These dark guild guys are dangerous, Naruto, you could get hurt or killed."

"Na if I die, my brother would probably kill him and anyone I've talked to. He's violent." Well, and he wanted Naruto dead... The last words he said over 400 years ago were something like 'I'll kill you myself! No one will get in my way.' Right before he went into hiding too. Hiding except the odd case of a destroyed village.

"Sounds nice," Mira replied with a smile. 'He'd probably eat you whole...' Naruto deadpanned to himself. Ah, dragons. "Oh, since you were wondering about the wyvern job... Normaly, a job like that will be restricted to a team of A class or S class mages, but the ones we get from this guy are always flukes. No one takes it because they know he won't pay them when he finds out there are no wyverns."

"Weird," Naruto said. "Well, gotta go!" He rushed out of the door and smirked. _'My life is gonna get interesting.'_ He sighed, looking off into the distance. _'I wish that I went insane and you were in my place, Acnologia... I'll save you one day.'_

* * *

"This is the hideout I was looking for?" He stared at the small, rickety, nearly broken shack in front of him in the woods of southern Waas Forest. Honestly, finding the information wasn't hard since the one who requested the mission from Oshibana town was in contact with the army. That explained why the job was oriented around 'capture' instead of 'beat senseless because of a grudge,' but Naruto could care less.

The military had a pretty good idea of where the dark mage was, it just seemed that the couldn't be bothered to send people after Conway, saying that there were 'worse fish to fry' or something along the lines. Naruto didn't really care about the reason, seeing how it was practically impossible for them to do absolutely everything. Either way, he picked up a little information from a businessman that was targeted a few years back by Conway. Apparently, the mage was a hireable assassin back then, and it seemed he was forming his own posse.

Though, looking the small shack, Naruto could say in full faith that the posse was a lot smaller than he originally thought. In fact, he could only smell a few differet people that used the place at all. _'Easier for me,'_ he shrugged, walking up to the door. When he opened it, he was greeted with exactly what he thought it would be, a small shack. There was literally less than five square feet of space.

_'Okay, something's up here... I can smell them, but I can't see them.'_ He glanced around on the floor, searching for anything curious. Then he spotted a bunch of symbols under the doormat after kicking it away. '_Runes, sneaky.'_ He had no clue what they meant, he never really bothered to study up on them during the war, and after the war, he had other things on his mind.

He pressed a hand against them and funneled his magic into it. Impulsive, probably, but he had no other ideas. They glowed a bright green, sending a small shock up his arm. Not harmful, just surprising.

"Password," a gruff, bored voice commanded.

"Uh. Fuck you!"

"It looks like we've actually been found out," the lazy voice sighed. "Never thought the day would come."

Naruto glared at the talking symbols. "Stop hiding, or I'm breaking your damn runes."

The man laughed. "Go ahead."

Naruto raised a fist above his head. "Apocalypse Dragon's Fist!" Blue energy lighting up the room, he smashed at the runes, making them glow. A jolt of pain ran up his arm.

"You idiot," the voice sighed, "you can't break runes with force."

He stumbled back and took a deep breath. "Apocalypse Dragon's Roar!" A jet of blue flame-like energy spewed at the runes, making the shed glow blindingly white. Sheilding his eyes, Naruto vaguely notice the entire miniature building being ripped to shreds and a crater forming beneath him.

But then, suddenly, the light cut off and the runes fizzled back to a lifeless scrawl on the ground. The forest around him shimmered, making him look carefully at his surroundings. It shimmered again, and again, and then he realized that a large house was fading into existence in front of him, replacing the forest.

"Ugh, I better tell boss," a voice said from behind the wooden door. He heard footsteps quickly running away.

_'Oh no you don't,'_ Naruto thought, bursting through the door into a hallway. The man was about forty, completely bald, and wore intentionally torn clothes.

The blond pulled out a kunai from one of his many pockets. '_It's always nice to keep these on hand.'_ With a slight move on the hand, he sent it sailing right into the person's shoe, making him stumble forward and fall.

The man twisted around, pulling a sword from a sheath at his waist. He stood up shakily and swung at Naruto's chest, but the blond caught it with his hand, ignoring the blood dripping out. "W-what the hell?" The man gasped.

Using his grip on the blade of the sword, Naruto twisted it from the man's grasp and tossed it in the air, catching it on the hilt with his bloody right hand. He pointed the tip at the man's neck. He wasn't about to kill the guy, knowing that legal guilds were against it and all, but the grunt didn't need to know that. "Where's Conway?"

After no answer came back, he pressed the tip harder against the man. "Fine!" The grunt caved. "Conway's all the way down the hall to the right. There are only five people here, the rest are with him, just please don't kill me."

"Thanks," Naruto gave him a sincere smile. "I wasn't going to anyways," he added cheerfully. The man just gaped at him. The blond turned to go, but he knew he was forgetting something. "Oh right, gotta turn you in. Huh, but if I leave you here, you'll probably just run." He swung a fist at the man's head, knocking him out. "I'll tie you up later."

One bored wave later and Naruto continued down the hallway. He seriously hoped that the grunt's skill level wasn't representative of the rest or Conway. He was looking for a nice warm up to stretch his legs, and the last thing he'd want to do was fight someone at Fairy Tail. He'd rather not fight friends or future friends, all things considered. Padding down the hallway calmer than he thought he could manage, he heard voices coming from a door to his right. They were whispers, undetectable to any normal human, but he could almost make out the words.

_'Well, here goes nothing!'_ With a loud yell, he burst through the door, knocking it off of its hinges. The four people inside turned their heads, each having varying levels of shock. He recognized one as Conway, and the others just seemed like buff, hired muscle. Conway himself was a tall man, perhaps 6 foot 2, with straight brown hair that stopped just above his eyes. He wasn't a buff man, making him easy to spot in this crowd, having a decently lithe build. He wore a grey shirt that could be seen behind a black jacket, and his pants stopped way above his ankles.

Conway shifted his gaze towards the intruder, a wild smirk on his face. The three thugs disappeared from existence. 'Illusions,' Naruto noted, surprised. Then, he almost yelled. Looking at the dark mage's eyes, he saw something he thought had died thousands of years ago. Red. His eyes were crimson, three swirling tomoe circling the center. _'H-how!? Sharingan!'_

Even more shocking was the fact that Conway bit his lip, wiping the blood with his palm and forming five seals. He pressed his hand to the ground. Grinning wildly, he glanced at Naruto, saying only "Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei."

The blond heard a sound to the right of the room and quickly twisted behind him, finding two coffins rising from the ground. With a loud noise, the lids fell on the floor simultaneously. _'No-no way!'_ He wanted to scream, but his mouth wouldn't work.

Both of them had spiky jet black hair, though one's only reached past his ears while the other's extended down his back. The first wore civilian clothes, and had his eyes closed, arms across his body. The second had dark red armor covering his body, two ringed eyes staring at Naruto, arms placed at his sides. It was impossible. "Zeref... Madara!"

"Hello again, Naruto," they both replied at the same time. This was truly his worst fear, the only thing that could scare him without placing his friends in danger.

In a moment, the blond regained his composure, a snarl on his face. "Where is Acnologia!? What the hell did you do to him!?"

Zeref opened his eyes, revealing red eyes that resembled the sharingan, but they weren't the same. "I thought you knew what I did. After all, you spent over four hundred years trying to deny your gift."

"Gift!" He yelled. "It was a curse! You took my brother from me. And you," he faced Madara, "I stopped you once, I will do it again."

_'T-this is impossible. It had to be an illusion!'_ But any illusion with magic shouldn't work on him as well any more, and they usually weren't this realistic! Still, he placed his hands in the ram seal, closing his eyes. His chakra was dormant, overwhelmed by magic power, but it was still there. Dark blue energy covered his body, mixing with the light blue chakra. Snapping his eyes open, he yelled, "Kai!"

The coffins and two people that strived to ruin the world were gone. The three thugs were back, a smug look on their faces. Conway seemed somewhat startled, but his eyes were back to normal. _'The sharingan was an illusion too, wasn't it? I hope...'_

"To escape my illusions so quickly... No other mage has accomplished this. Demonic Illusion, Hell Viewing is strong, it shows you your worst fears, and you shattered it in less than a second!" It felt longer, and it probably was. Illusions could distort time. "Get him!" Conway panicked.

Naruto slipped into a ready stance as the first charged with a sword. The grunt swung it at his head, but the blond shifted to the side, slapping he sword away. Just when the man was off balance, he went to attack, but the second had thrown a knife at him. Naruto was ready, turning his punch into a full out roll to his left, the dagger sticking into the wall behind him. The first thug attacked again with the sword but found a foot in his chest, launching him across the room.

The third guy stood back, a magic circle appearing in front. It was a basic magic fireball, one that required no aptitude for fire magic, only practice. Naruto breathed in and out, engulfing the fire in a torrent of blue. The Apocalypse Dragon's Roar continued on, covering the grunt in flames. The blond had no time to celebrate, finding the second guy was already shoving a knife towards his side. He jumped back a few inches, making the guy barely miss, then the grunt came at him with his left hand in a fist. Naruto caught the punch, twisting the man's arm and flipping the man onto the ground. One punch and the guy was lights out.

The first one had gotten the courage to attack him again with the sword, though he was shaken up after crashing into the wall and denting it. "Apocalypse Dragon's Fist!" Naruto smirked, countering the man's swipe by punching the sword. It flew out of the grunt's grasp, but the punch continued, sailing into the man's face, knocking him back to the same dent. He slumped on the ground, knocked out.

"That wasn't too satisfying," Naruto sighed, looking at the last member of the room. He cracked his knuckled and faced Conway. "One left. I thought this would be more of a challange." He pulled the dagger out of the wall behind him and threw it at the dark mage. Conway didn't move, letting the dagger stab him in the chest.

Before Naruto could question it, his opponent was on his right, grabbing the fallen sword. _'Illusion,'_ he realized. He tried to counter a swing of the sword by slapping it to the side, but the sword wasn't where he thought it was. It hit his shoulder and bounced off, cutting his clothes and drawing a measely amount of blood. "By the way, I'm no normal human," Naruto grinned. "Apocalypse Dragon's Wing Slash!" He punched a full two feet to Conways left, but the blue energy extended out from his hand, taking the shape of a large wing. The wing slammed Conway in the stomach, sending him sailing into the wall, knocking him through it and into another room. Naruto kicked the wall in, following the mage into the other room.

Conway was on the ground in pain. Hmph, he shouldn't rely on the first illusion so much, especially when chakra techniques allowed its victims to break out. Granted, he was probably the only one with unlocked chakra, human or otherwise, even if he hardly had enough to make a couple clones anymore. He held Conway up by his shirt. "Tell me, what was that illusion technique?"

"W-what technique!" Conway stammered. "It was my magic. Look, I'll give you anything you want, just don't kill me!"

"What could you possibly have that I want?"

"A name," the frighten mage answered quickly, fear evident. Naruto smirked, the man was clearly frightened by how easily he took out the grunts. He barely even moved.

"A name? Of who?"

"My employer." With a sigh, the blond let go of his mark, letting the mage fall back on his ass.

Naruto frowned. "Weren't you supposed to be alone?" Conway shook his head. "Well who is it then?" _'Maybe the client'll pay me extra!'_ He thought happily. _'For the trouble of remembering my past, extra cash would do wonders.'_

He opened his mouth, then closed it. Naruto bent over and gripped his shirt again, making Conway gulp. Then, he spoke. "Samsara..."

* * *

A/N: This was pretty much a teaser chapter. If you're worried I'll go immediately into a new arc, I wont. He'll go back to Fairy Tail after this short mission. Anyways, pairing will be Naruto x Erza or Naruto x Mira, maybe I'll make a poll on my profile. Until then, you can suggest in the comments. Some about Naruto's past and the connection between the FT world and Naruto world will remain a mystery for now. I'm sure you guys already have some guesses and assumptions. For the record, Naruto's chakra was mostly converted to magic power, which will be explained later. Oh, ya, if anyone wants to beta for me, that would be great!

Until next time! Don't forget to leave a review, especially since this is my first fanfic!


	2. Chapter 2

**Apocalypse**

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews and favs, it's glad to know I have support when going into another chapter. Anyways, I noticed that I forgot a disclaimer in the first chapter. Ps- a couple said the first chap went a little fast. Apologies then, I'm still new to this. Also, poll is on my profile now for pairing!

Disclaimer- Neither Naruto, nor Fairy Tail is mine, though both would be beyond awesome to own. I seriously think Acnologia didn't get enough screentime or backstory. Could have been cool. Oh well.

* * *

**Arc 1: Return**

**Chapter 2: Uncertanties**

* * *

_It was dark, the sky clearly visible to anyone, the stars and cosmos shining their lights on the land of Fiore. Naruto stood, facing off into the distance, standing above a large crater. He could remember it so clearly, the moment when everything changed. The crater, possibly a mile wide, was a harsh memory of times past, but now it was the present and he could change everything. "I'll save you 'ttebayo!" He shouted._

_A black mass shifted in the center of the crater, turning towards him. Splotches of blood covered its black, feather-like wings and scales, lines of blue intricately crisscrossing its body. Two beady white eyes glared at him through the night, situated atop a large, almost scowling, reptilian head. Naruto's eyes widened. The dragon, his friend, was bathed in crimson blood, and it looked absolutely monstrous. It took the blond a moment to notice what else was in the center of the crater. It was a dragon, though that word could hardly describe the mangled mess._

_"You aren't the Dragon King!" Naruto pleaded. "Please, I know you! You wanted everyone to live together peacefully, and now you only destroy."_

_A booming, evil laugh filled his ears, a demonic sound that held far too much amusement. "There is only one important thing in this world. Power." With a beat of its wings, the dragon flew into the air and landed feet away from Naruto, tilting its head downwards to look him in the eye. "Zeref gave me power, and now I'm the one in charge. Father was weak."_

_"We're friends. We were brothers, we are brothers, Acnologia! We won the war, we can go home now, remember? You weren't like this, you weren't..."_

_"Powerful?" The dragon interrupted, amusement in its deep tone. "Enlightened? Zeref opened my eyes, insolent little brother, and he gave you the chance to receive the same gift."_

_"Strength only creates more problems. You'll be just like them, abusing people for you own gain. That's why we wanted peace, remember your old family?" Something snapped in the dragon's eyes, the amusement turned to rage. It leaned forward, less than a foot away from Naruto now, but the blond wouldn't move. He wasn't afraid, he couldn't be._

_"They were weak, just like you. All humans are weak. One day, we will fight again, and when the time comes, you will fight me as an equal or I'll kill you myself. No one will get in my way." Acnologia turned around, whacking Naruto with a tail. The blond skidded back, barely remaining upright._

_It was then he heard the voice for the first time... 'I can help you.' There was a soft, feminine chuckle. _

_'I can give you the power you desire.'_

"No!" Naruto snapped awake, his scream echoing through the forest. "I'm okay... I'm fine... Still human..." He yawned, looking at his sleeping prisoner who was tied to a tree. "Man, these dreams suck." Every day.

The brunette who he captured earlier glared at him. "Oh, don't mind me, just standing here. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep tied to a tree, especially when you're always screaming 'Acnologia' in your sleep? I haven't slept at all. At all!"

With a sigh, he crossed his legs and faced Conway. "I liked it better when you begged for your life."

"Shoulda known a pansy like you wouldn't kill me." Naruto growled at him, not once confused by why he did so. _'I swear, travelling with this guy was a terrible idea. I'm talking Gai's youthful rants terrible. Nah, I could actually use one of those, especially since I officially surpassed Jiji in age' _He almost laughed at that. _'That guy's still got me beat in wisdom though.' _Naruto didn't think he was wise, no matter how long he lived. Jiraiya, Hiruzen, his final teacher, they were wise.

Groaning, he replied, "Can someone remind me why the hell I agreed to take this mission. Two days, I have to travel with you for two days!" Yes, that meant Naruto had to figure out how to tie him up and keep him from casting illusions. Normally, he'd have figured out something smart or bought handcuffs beforehand, but this is Naruto Uzumaki, number one improviser, so he just grabbed some spare rope he had in his pack and used it to tie the bastard to a tree. Thankfully, Conway had yet to attempt escape, and there was only seven or eight hours to go. Judging by the clouds in the sky, Naruto knew they were going to be in for a crappy day. Unlike his dream, the sky was dark and gloomy, even at night, not mystical and bright.

"And I haven't slept a wink of it. Might as well get fucking moving so you can turn me in." The blond didn't concern himself on why Conway was so desperate to get back to Oshibana town, especially since he'd probably get handed to the army eventually. The client had some questions for Conway, and that was all he bothered to tell Naruto, but he'd had weirder missions before. Naruto just hoped it wasn't torture or anything the like, he really hated that aspect of his distant past.

"Don't be so exited to get away from the amazing Naruto Uzumaki!"

"What, the one who screams like a girl in his sleep?"

"I swear, you're so dead next time you say that."

"You don't have the balls to kill me," Conway smirked.

Naruto hung his head, exaggerating his defeat. "What the hell happened to you! The moment I said that I had to capture you alive you suddenly became a cocky asshole..." He shook his head, hating mind puzzels. "Whatever, I have a job to do, let's get going." _'I can't let that creepy, know-it-all smirk get to my head. I'm better than this!'_

"Hmph, fine. I can't really move like this though." Naruto sighed, walking over to the man. A minute later, the rope now bound the man's hands together, a cloth over his mouth simply to help Naruto. It was tough to wake up from a bad memory then listen to his prisoner antagonize him. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, the blond grabbed his bad and pushed Conway ahead of him. When the man still wouldn't move, Naruto gave him an extra 'nudge,' making the dark mage nearly fall flat on his face.

"Hmm umm hmmm!" Conway protested.

"No, this is much more peaceful."

"MMMM!"

"Sorry? What was that?"

"Mmm muuhmm!"

Naruto shook his head. "You know I don't speak Spanish."

* * *

_'Finally!'_ Naruto cheered in his head, pumping a fist. It was a couple hours before midday, and the weather hadn't improved at all. It was hardly any brighter than it was at 2 in the morning, and the clouds looked like they were threatening rain. Fortunately for the two, they hadn't had to walk in the rain yet, and they'd already arrived at their destination.

A mansion, maybe that was not quite the right word for the large house, but nonetheless, Naruto was going to stick with it. Back when he was actually a member of society, houses tended to be small, if existent at all, so the moderate two story building on the outskirts of Oshibana Town seemed fancy. It being on the outskirts of the town, the blond never had to drag his prisoner through a bunch of populated streets. On second thought, he probably should have stopped there for some food. Conway looked nearly dead and was no doubt hungry, while Naruto felt perfectly fine with not having eaten in a couple days. Just another reminder that he wasn't normal...

"Okay, look, I gotta hand you to this guy. Don't know what the hell he wants, and I don't care as long as he gives you to the army and gets me my money. I really need it, ya' know! Crap!" He thought he was rid of the verbal tick... oh well. "Maybe I should have grabbed a couple of your grunts... nah one of you was enough. I hope all my missions aren't like this. I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"Hmhmmm!"

"Nope, that thing is staying on. It's a life saver." Naruto pulled the brunette up to the door and knocked a couple times.

He heard footsteps behind it and someone ran up to the door. "No, I don't want your damn fliers!" A man shouted. "Ya'll can go the hell home and leave me the hell alone!"

"Uhh..." Naruto replied. "I'm the mage from Fairy Tail..."

The door opened a little, and an eye peaked out at him. Then the door opened all the way, revealing a nearly bald, buff man in his mid forties with a camo jacket and jeans. A few medals were pinned to the left side of the jacket, though Naruto had no clue what any of them meant. The man turned his stone-carved face to the blond. When Naruto visited last, he discovered that the man was a Sargent in the army. That was probably why the client had Naruto refer to him as 'Sarge' instead of Garret.

"Oh, my bad," Sarge said in a gruff voice. "These pricks've been askin' me to buy some fake communication lacrima. Bunch a dumbass teens," he growled, looking behind Naruto and Conway. Upon seeing the prisoner he glared, "It's you."

"Mhmhmh!"

"Hah, gagged, you did the right thing kid. Conway never did shut up."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning. "Uh... well... he was kinda annoying. I think I scared him to death by accident at first, but as soon as he figured I'd keep him alive, he got like that."

"Well, good job kid. Never thought even Fairy Tail'd have this mission done so quick. Say, you up for some food? I was 'bout to eat takeout from that nice BBQ place downtown."

_'This guy is weird...' _The blond thought to himself. The eight century itself was weirder than he ever could have predicted. "What about him?" He pointed to Conway.

Sarge laughed loudly. "Hah! He don't need to eat that nice food. Come in, we can throw him in the closet till you're done, then I'll take care of him."

"MMM!"

Naruto shrugged, then let out a wide grin. "Why not? Yeah, free food!" He cheered.

* * *

So, that was how Conway found himself stuck in a dark closet stuffed with old clothes, mainly underwear, trying not to cry comical tears. He was soooo hungry, and that blond jerk hadn't even stopped once to let them eat anything. Prisoners were supposed to be kept alive, right!? Frowning, he remembered that the blond was the only person to completely shrug off his most powerful illusion in seconds, then proceeded to pummel the shit out of him and his thugs. Of course, he'd never been great at hand to hand, even combat with a sword was not his forte, though Conway knew that this Naruto kid could still be a threat to his plans. _'Whatever... It doesn't matter. I'm sorry I told him your name, I didn't know he was the mage sent to capture me...' _Man, the boss was going to be ticked.

His thoughts were interrupted. "Oh yeah!" Sarge exclaimed, looking at his meal. "Look at the size of this wing!"

"That's totally not a chicken! Hey, do you have any more ramen! That stuff was amazing, ya' kn-" The blond was cut off when some loud crashing sound pierced their conversation.

Conway closed his eyes, smirked through the cloth, and waited.

Naruto stood up quickly, looking around, startled out of his mind. He hadn't even noticed that a kunai had slipped from his jacket into his right hand. "What was that?"

"Probably nothin... Sit back down, there's more left. Oh, before I forget." Sarge ran to the kitchen drawer and pulled it out. From it, he grabbed a key and placed the key in a cabinet. With a click, something opened, but the man turned around and ran to a spot in the wall, reaching his hand seemingly though the wall. When he returned his hand, he was carrying a small case. _'Paranoid?' _Naruto wondered. Rune safes, especially ones that were this well hidden, were expensive.

Sarge slid the case across the table to Naruto. "There's your money kid for a job's well done!" _'That's a lot of Jewels!'_ Naruto actually hadn't ever seen so many Jewels in one place before. 150,000, surely that'd get him a nice house and keep him well off for a couple weeks! Naruto pulled out the notes and placed them in his back pocket. Fiore, being as smart as it was, had 10,000J notes! "Don't tell anyone 'bout the safe," his tone grew very serious. "Don't care if you're a mage or not, I wouldn't forgive you." Quickly, the cabinet was locked, and the key disappeared. _  
_

Naruto sweatdropped. Yep, paranoid. He didn't even have a clue _how _the safe worked, much less an idea of why or how he'd steal from a near-stranger. "Uh, your secret's safe with me? Yeah, thanks for the food, I'll be goi-"

Another loud bang echoed across the kitchen. This time, the lights flickered with it. Naruto stood up and drew his kunai again, this time making it glow with blue energy. "Alright, kid," Sarge asked with hostility not directed to Naruto. "The hell was that?"

The blond sniffed the air, closing his eyes. Something or someone was here. He concentrated, filtering out the strong-smelling takeout and searching for anything out of the ordinary. _'There!' _He twirled around, snapping open his eyes, and pointed his kunai at the wall of the kitchen. The exit to the back yard was on the other side, and someone had gotten into the house.

"Secret art," a deep voice echoed across the house. "Bringer of Darkness."

Everything went black. Even his enhanced vision could not pierce the infinite darkness that obscured his and Sarge's vision. The client stumbled around a little before landing back in his seat.

"Kid, you gotta help me out!" Sarge pleaded. "Find whoever that is, now!"

Naruto nodded, not like the man could see, concentrating his other senses. He could smell the intruder, even though the man was almost undetectable. It was weird... it seemed like he was masking his presence. The blond stumbled around the corner into a hallway, looking for the intruder.

_'Apocalypse Dragon's Ro-'_ Shit, he couldn't use that in the man's house. _'The hell can I do except destroy the entire house?'_

He rounded the corner and swung his kunai towards an area of the darkness, releasing it with glowing blue energy. There was a small clang as the intruder deflected it with some weapon. "So you're the mage who captured Conway. I must say, you don't seem too impressive, despite your uncanny ability to find me in the dark. No matter, you've lost here. Tactics always win."

With enhanced hearing, he heard the man thrown something. _'But what?' _Instead of risking it, Naruto released blue energy from every area of his body, covering him in it for a moment. Then he placed his hand out and spun. "Kaiten," he said, hearing the clatter of two weapons against his shield.

"Wow, not bad. But I still have the upper hand!" Naruto cut him off by diving towards the voice with a fist coated in blue flames. The intruder dodged. Naruto tried again. Dodged. Again, he swung a leg at the man, only to have it deflected with a well placed hand. The blond spun, launching a fist at the air to the man's left. "Apocalypse Dragon's Wing Slash!" The energy formed a blade, reaching across the entire hallway.

Something was cut in half. _'Holy shit, I killed him!'_ He always tried to avoid killing since he hated death.

"Hmm, close." Behind!

In seconds, a kunai from his left hand was sailing towards the intruder. Deflected again. _'I need to get my sight back. What kind of technique is this!' _He needed to use an old attack to get out of this without breaking the man's house in two.

He placed his hands in the cross hand seal and called up all the chakra he could muster. "Kage bunshin!" Only three popped up, a result of his mere chuunin-sized reserves. Most of his chakra had changed forms when he learned his magic, but it was impossible to rid the body of its life force completely. He slumped over a little from exhaustion, then breathed deeply, trying to draw some energy back. One of the clones hid behind him while the other two ran towards the intruder.

"HELP!" Sarge. The scream was loud and followed by a thump. Naruto twisted around, finding himself facing the kitchen. _'Shit!' _He sprinted back in, noticing a second unfamiliar smell touch his nose. _'There's two of them!' _The second hid his presence almost flawlessly, no doubt an excellent assassin. Naruto stumbled around the table, running towards where he thought the man was when he kicked something squishy.

He stepped back, finding his shoe had stuck to some sticky liquid. He placed his shoe back down, noticing the almost inaudible splash that it made. Someone was there; the smell of blood was obscuring his senses. "Sarge?" he whispered. The man was holding his stomach in pain, though Naruto couldn't see. A wound ran straight through his body.

"Naruto." What! He wasn't even aware that the client had remembered his name. "You gotta stop- ugh." He groaned. "Samsara. Ugh... Old power." Then the blond heard his heart stop beating and the body slumped over.

A man just died. On his watch.

And he couldn't stop it.

_'I can give you power. I can stop the pain...'_

The voice, there it was again, plaguing his life. He shook his head, trying to stop himself from hearing it.

"What's wrong with you...?" Naruto asked darkly, looking up to face the second intruder. "You can't just run around killing people, ya' know!"

"Fairy Tail Mage, this is not your fight. It was destined for him to die. Return to your guild, you have lost." Memories suddenly flooded into Naruto's head. One clone was done for, the other was low on chakra and still trying not to destroy the house. He felt the large amount of bills in his pocket, unsure whether he was going to keep them or not. Either, way these bastards weren't going to get away with murder. Murder, but they had another objective.

_'Conway!' _He realized, sprinting back into the hallway.

There was light panting across the room. "I see you've met my friend," the first assassin smirked. "No matter how good of a mage you are, only runes could have stopped him. He's the best after all." So, they were assassins, right? Two assassins, one former assassin, all in the house. He needed to destroy the house and kill them along with it. There was no way he could fight blind in a confined space. A third set of steps were heard, and they weren't from Naruto's two remaining clones.

"You bastard! I've had nothing to eat for two days, two days!"

"Heh," the first chuckled. "Your own fault Conway. At least something good came out of this." What were they talking about?

"Look, I don't care who the hell you are or what you want, all I know is I'm taking you down for real!" Three seeing opponents versus three blind Narutos. Normally, he'd be all for those odds, but inside a house and in close combat, sight was vital. He held his hands up quickly. _'Damn, I've had less than a minute to gather energy, I'll have time for only a couple attacks.'_

The stationary clone disappeared with a poof. Naruto suddenly could see an outline of everything in the room in his mind. No, he could sense everything perfectly, seeing how he was in tune with the natural energy of the world. It was sage mode, but instead of orange with toad eyes, his eyes were gold, slitted with blue shadow. "Let's go wild!" His second clone jumped to him and held its hands out. Slowly, a blue ball of his energy with four black blades swirling from it took shape, spinning around quickly.

"Rasenshuriken!" He declared, slamming it into the ground at his feet and bracing himself.

Conway and the others' visions were obscured completely by a blinding white light, and they reached to shield their eyes. Miniature blades chopped through funiture, ceilings, floors, and walls, reutrning the house to almost nothing. The assailents were blasted back by the energy, the needles stabbing into their skin.

When the destruction stopped, there was a crater with Naruto in the center. He was breathing a little hard, though he wasn't anywhere close to his limit. His vision cleared up and sage mode disappeared, seeing how he used tons of nature energy and his own energy to shield himself from the technique. The apocalypse energy had eliminated the entire house.

"I can see!" He breathed out a smirk on his face. He looked at the three assassins. The two new ones were dressed in completely black cloaks, though they were now torn and blood had leaked out. The second assailant, he could tell by the smell, had blood coating his entire right side, even though his left was relatively intact. He fell to his knees, coughing up blood. The first had somehow escaped with no injuries whatsoever, minus a bruise on his shoulder and a cut on his cheek that came from his fight with the clones. Conway had suffered small cuts on most of his body, but it looked like the first guy had pulled him away from the worst of the blast.

_'How did they all survive!?' _The Apocalypse-style Rasenshuriken, slightly greater in power to a normal rasenshuriken, destroyed people on a molecular level. How could they avoid it or withstand it!

"Not bad, not bad at all." The first gave a few sarcastic claps, walking towards downed assassin number two. "We have what we came for, let's go Conway." The two unnamed assassins quickly disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Conway waved. "Well, Naruto, it was nice playing this game with you." With a wide, satisfied grin, Conway followed their lead and poofed away.

Naruto frowned, looking at the complete destruction of the property. _'Are my first missions always cursed?'_

* * *

The Apocalypse mage had sorted the problem out with the army, and they let him off with a warning this time. 'Do not destroy any more private or public property,' the large man'd said, giving an 'I'm so done with this' look. There was just so much destruction, even by Fairy Tail standards, though it was to be expected the moment Naruto told the army that he was a Fairy Tail mage. Not only was the house and entire plot obliterated, but a portion of the main road leaving the town was destroyed as well. Seeing how it was his first infraction, they promised to either jail him or fine him next time. At least they believed he wasn't responsible for the dead man, Sarge, in the remains of his own house. The army couldn't tell who or what dark guild was involved, as they had no idea why Sarge would have been targeted by assassins. They didn't even know that Conway had accomplices beyond his own group.

Now, it was a day later and Naruto had travelled all the back to Magnolia. As soon as the army let him go, he caught a train in Oshibana town and arrived in Magnolia. He kind of wanted to run back, since it'd probably be faster, but instead he settled with reluctantly using his newly earned money to relax on a train. The moment he arrived in Magnolia, it was at night, he ran searched for an apartment complex and found one near Fairy Tail. He paid a hefty 90,000J for the down payment on the nice house that the man had for sale, but at 30,000J a month it wasn't too bad. Content as he was with his situation, he was down to less than 30,000J already. Sooner or later, he'd have to take another job. First, though, he had a relaxing nap at his house to deal with the stress.

In the morning, he got up and almost immediately headed for Fairy Tail. The moment he opened the doors, everyone stared.

"Huh?" He asked, startled. Whatever they were doing, they stopped and looked at him, even Cana paused her drinking. "Oookay..." He wandered over to the bar and sat down, leaning to Mira. "What's up with them?"

"Apparently, according to the Master, you had taken on 3 A class or above mages, almost defeating them, and destroying a house in the process. Most people are just wondering how strong you are." Wait, news travelled that fast!

"But that was only yesterday!"

"Master was informed of it last night. Houses are expensive."

Naruto sweatdropped. _'That didn't belong to anybody once Sarge... died, did it? I hope the old man wasn't forced to pay.' _"Yeah, I think I went overboard a little. I was blinded by their funky illusions though, it was the only way to hit them."

"And did you?"

"Well," Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "They got away, but next time I'll get them good. Ya' know, they killed my client." He clenched his fist tightly, hating that he'd let that happen.

"It wasn't your fault. The mission was only to capture that one guy. Two more weren't supposed to launch an assassination." Mira was so reassuring for some reason, Naruto knew she tended to calm people down a lot. It also seemed that she was somewhat of a gossip.

Naruto gave a smile, the first real one in days. "So, where's Natsu? I don't sm-see him here." He was about to say smell before realizing how weird that'd sound to her.

"Natsu? He left with Lucy early this morning on a job. I think they went to Shirotsume town, something about a book. Must have been an important book, seeing how the reward was 200,000 Jewels." 200,000 Jewels, for a book? He totally picked the wrong job to go out on. Why was the first mission always cursed, and couldn't things ever be as the seemed?

"Actually," a voice put in. The master was standing behind Naruto, drawing the attention of Levy, Droy, and Jet, who were at the job board, "the reward was bumped up to 2 million Jewels."

"W-w-what! This isn't fair!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Wow," Levy said, "I wonder what kind of book it is. I'll have to ask Lucy what it was about when they get back." She waved at Naruto and went back to looking for another mission. Oddly enough, both Jet and Droy gave Naruto an unhappy look. The blond gave them the peace sign. _'I wonder what they're thinking...'_

Things calmed down, so he turned back to the white haired waitress. "So, Naruto," Mira began, "what exactly happened on your job?"

"I'd like to know too." Makarov had jumped up onto a chair, now eye level with Naruto.

Naruto sighed. "But you guys already seem to know about it."

Mira nodded. "We want to hear it from you, though."

"Alright then. It started in the outskirts of Oshibana town, where I met the client, Sarge..." The story dragged on and on. Naruto had refused to tell any detail about the two days in which he and Conway travelled alone, the blond forgetting to feed his prisoner. That was kind of embarrassing. He also had to be prompted to tell the full story of what happened at Sarge's house with the assassination. When it was all said and done, Makarov gave him a pat on the back.

The master nodded approvingly. "You did well, Naruto. I'm concerned about this Samsara character and those three dark mages, though it's not our business now. The council has this information, and those fools have to decide whether people're going to look for those guys or go after worse dark guilds."

Mira nodded. "It was a well planned assassination. Though I have to ask, why was it done the middle of the day with a light mage in the house. For that matter, why did they let Conway get captured before the assassination."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't know, but that guy was freaky paranoid. Maybe he was hiding something." He put his head in his hands, "not much I can do about it now..."

It was silent for a few moments. Makarov left and went back to his office in order to fill out some paperwork related to whatever happened in Oshibana Town. Mira gave Naruto a glass of water, which he drank silently then stared past her shoulder. "You know," she said, "you should try to meet some of the other guild members. You're an interesting guy with unusual magic, I'm sure you'd fit in just fine."

Fit in? Naruto was sure maybe he could fit in and connect with them as friends. But he'd always be different than the average mage, no matter how hard he tried otherwise. He looked across the room at the mage that smelt like ice. _'You know, maybe I should try anyways. It'd be nice to have some friends again after all these years.'_

* * *

A/N: Sorry I ended it a little early. It seemed like a good cut-off and this chapter was running out of ideas. Anyways, to explain two things. One, the rasenshuriken would have killed Naruto if it was made of wind chakra like originally. However, when he got his Apocalypse Dragon Slaying magic, his chakra changed to magic power, allowing him to substitute that for chakra. Since a dragon is very resistant to his own element, he was able to survive a point blank apocalypse rasenshuriken without any problems. As for how the others escaped, it's a secret.

Man, I thought I was going to write a 2k finish to the Conway mission, but I got carried away and the assassination took way too long. Maybe that's because you guys wanted it slowed down with a little more detail? Anyways, I'm open for feedback, especially on the fight scene.

Ps- Naruto was very limited in the fight since he was blinded and indoors, while his magic is better in open areas.


End file.
